
S5-5 



THE SPOILER SPOILEn. 



A. SERMOlSr 



PR£A.CH£ID IN THE 



FREE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES 

OF NESHANOCK AND HOPEWELL, 

THURSDAY, JUNE 1st, 186 J. 

BY 

REV, J. C. BI#GHAM. 



PUBLISHED BY THE CONGREGATIO>f. 
■ • ^ ♦ 

MEBCEB.' 
Printed at the Office of tUe AVliig aud DiapnUh. 



^^tr- 



THE SPOILER SPOILED. 



^' IVoe to ihec that spoilest, and thou wast not sj)oiledj and dealest 
treacherously/ f and they dealt not treacherously icith thee^ when 
thou shall cease to spoil, thou shalt he spoiled, and when thou 
shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal trearh^ 
erously with thee'' — IsAlAH, XXXIII : 1. 

"I do Dot believe that the Bible is a revelation from GoJ, and 
having read it carefully, 1 confess that I cannot tell where it came 
from/' 

Such is the recent confession of one whose landmarks were 
swept away by the tide of spurious religion which almost eugultcd 
our country, and made a slave-holder's rebellion possible. 

God is tearing up the foundations, alike of skepticism and fraud- 
ulent Christianity, by writing the woeb of the Bible in the history 
of proud oppressors,"^ and by stretching out his arms in pity and 
deliverance to the poor. He has lifted the veil of mystery, and we 
look right down into the habitations of horrid cruelty. 

We see the spoiler and the spoiled, the treacherous dealer, and 
those who have been treacherously dealt with. VVe have felt the 
relentless blows of the traitor's hand upon ourselves, — a hand made 
strong in its treason against humanity, by our encouragement and 
iorbeyrance. We have been long acquainted with its spirit, but 
not until we felt its blows, did we know its accumulated power. 
The elave bowed beneath it, and we called him menial ; we did 
him wrong, he needed a helping hand ; God gave it to him, and 
he rose and helped to deliver \i3. 

The history of slavery has ever been one of treason, fraud and 
barbarism. It has defrauded millions of liberty, light, property, 
family relations, everything on earth that is desirable. Its vic^ 
tims by millions lie buried and forgotten in the desolated fields, and 
in- the swamps and wilderness of the South, In heroic endurance, 
in patient suffering, each hopeless generation passed away. Their 
.<;hains were their only heirloom, parents lived to see them securely 



4 THE SPOILER SPOILED. 

fastened upon the limbs of their children, to bathe and rust them 
with their tears, then joyfully retired to rest in their humble graves. 

Now and then a bold spirit like ''Nat Turner/' would strike and 
break himself against the iron sceptre of the mighty despot, but, 
"'on the side of the oppressor there was power, and they had no 
comforter." 

The joke grew heavier with every effort that was made to break 
it, the taskmasters increased their burdens, flayed the weak or 
stubborn, as examples at the whipping post, burned the rebellious 
at the stake, chased the fugitives, and allowed them to be torn ia 
pieces by blood-hounds, and the ^'Hunker" of olden times, the in^ 
cipient Northern disloyalist of the present, exclaimed, ''cease from 
your agitation, it only makes the slave's condition worse/' 

The same spirit, even in what were called peaceful days, mobbed 
and murdered hundreds of citizens who onlj presumed to question 
its rightfulness and authority. Long ago Lovejoy died a martyr, 
Richard Dillingham, an Ohio quaker, perished in a 3Iis3issippi 
prison, for daring to sympathize with the spoiled. Fairbanks in 
Kentucky, and Samuel Green in Maryland, were held fast prison- 
ers until liberated by the progress of the war, because they loved 
humanity. It shed the blood of hundreds in Kansas, kidnapped 
her free citizens, and let them die in Missouri jails, endeavored to 
drive out every man who loved liberty, made it a capital crime to 
speak against slavery, strove to strike down the right of petition, 
and freedom of debate in the Congress of the United States, chal^ 
lecged to duel every man who dared to lift his voice against its 
presumptuous claims, made it a high crime to give a cup of cold 
water or a crust of bread to their fleeing victims, even in our own 
homes. It silenced most of the pulpits of our country, and en- 
deavored to prostitute the word of God into its foul support. 

The leading men of the rebellion received high salaries, and 
occupied emioent places in the government, while they were bend- 
ing every effort of their lives for its overthrow. A solemn oath 
had no binding force upon the conscience ot traitors. Why should 
a man shrink from the crime of perjury who makes light of the 
crime of treason ? It was a little thing for them to rob the armory 
and treasury of the nation, scatter its vessels of war, conspire to 
take the President's life before he should reach the Capital, and 
openly attack the government in the hour of its supposed helpless- 
ness, for with their uplifted right band they had sworn allegiance 
to its Constitution, while in their perjured hearts they were already 
planning how most effectually to destroy it. 

When the war began there were traitors in every department of 
the government, all over the country great organizations were la- 
boring for its overthrow, railroad bridges were burned, trains of 
c;iis ladened with soldiers were thrown from the track, and masked 
Datterics were erected almost in reach of the Capital 



^nE SPOILER SPOILED. 



As the war progressed wounded and helpless men were murdered 
on the battle field, ornaments were made of the bones of Uniou 
soldierg, left unbaried where they fell, tens of thousands perished 
by starvation in Southern prisons, and last of all, when ruin stared 
them in the face, when their guilty cause was hopeless, they mur^ 
dered the President, who in this hour of their extremity, as in- 
deed, from the beginning, was the best friend they had on earth. 
Thus the spoiler spoiled ; thus the treacherous dealer dealt 
treacherously. For long years they spoiled with impunity, the 
rich and powerful were on their side, those who opposed them in 
wickedness were few, and feeble, and despised. Now they are 
scattered before God, they are driven away like smoke, as wax 
melteth before the lire, so do they perish from the presence of the 
Lord. Their sword is entered into their own flesh, and their bows 
are broken. 

We have met to. day in accordance with the proclamation ot 
our new President. It tells us that, ''our country has become one 
great house of mourning, the head of the family being taken away." 
And in order to mitigate that grief on earth, which can only be 
assua^^ed by communication with the Father in Heaven, ''Thi3 
day i? observed wherever in the United States the flag of the 
eountry is respected, as a day of humiliation and mourning," and 
we are called upon to "unite in solemn service to Almighty God, 
in memory of the good man who has been removed." 

Mr. Lincoln was the President of the people. He removed the 
rubbish of aristocracy that had been gradually gathering around the 
Presidential ofiice, and brought it back again to simple familiarity 
with the masses; working men wrote to him letters of encourage- 
ment, and received from him kind appreciative words in reply. 
His mode of thought and expression corresponded with theirs, and 
every sentence he uttered was at once understood. His strong, 
clear common sense made the gilding of rhetoric superfluous. With 
him, words were the reprsentatives of ideas. Never did _ ho "sue- 
ceed in saying nothing" The art of deception was not his. 

He had imbibed the political notions of the people, corrupted 
and prostituted by the influence of Slavery, as was the politica of 
the nation. The holding of slaves was by almost common consent, 
a constitutional right. The Fugitive Slave Act was constitutional. 
Whoever opposed either, or hinted that there is a higher law was 
a "sickly sentimentalist," and "impracticable theorist," or an im-. 
pertinent meddler." Every officer bowed before this all-powerful, 
and relentless Moloch, and swore to protect its rights, and faith- 
fully do its bidding. 

There is an inexpressible sense of relief in the knowledge that 
all this is past. The Fugitive Slave Law is dead, and Slavery has 
ceased to exist under the old constitution, unamended. 

Under the stern discipline of God's Providence, Abraham Lin- 



G THE SPOIL Ell SPOILED. 

coin was proparnl in twenty months to do ns ^reat J\n act as man 
is ever permitted to do on earth. As the rnler of thirty millions 
of people, the chosen instrument of the God of nations, on the first; 
day of January, eighteen hundred and sixty<three he proclaimed 
liberty throughout the land. Four millions of shackles were broken 
asunder on that day. Four millions of right hands were raised 
towards heaven in silent joy. Four millions of hearts too full for 
utterance, breathed out one prayer for blessings upon him whom 
God had led to speak those glorious words. On that day rebellion 
began to die. It has achieved no victory since. That arrow 
found its way to the heart of the Conlederacy and drained its 
life-blood. 

Abraham Lincoln needs no marble monument to perpetpuate his 
fame. It will live in the household words of a race elevated by 
his word from among the beasts. Fir.'^t in huts little children are 
•taught, in uncouth terms, to speak his praise. Hereafter, the 
children of those children, possessors of the soil, the riches, and 
refinement of the South, in mansions built by their own skill and 
energy, will weave his name in poetry, and in rich music of their 
own, sing the praise of their great deliverer. Glory to God who 
raised him up and enabled him to do his work so w^ll. 

President Lincoln was the friend ot the soldiers. He felt and 

acted toward them like a father. It was remarked by one of his 

cabinet that he was scarcely fit to be intrusted with the pardoning 

power. He could hardly turn away from the application of a man, 

and the tears of a woman were sure to overcome him. 

Carpenter, the Artist, narrates the following incident : 

"A woman with a faded shawl and hood, somewhat advanced in 

life, was admitted in her turn to the President. Her husband and 

three sons, all she had in the world, enlisted. Her husband had 

been killed, and she had come to ask the President to release to 

her the eldest son. "Certainly, if her prop was taken away she 

was justly entidtd to one of her boys." He immediately wrote an 

order for the discharge of the young man. The woman thanked 

him very gratefully, and went away. On reaching the army, she 

found that this sou had been in a recent engagement, was wounded, 

and taken to a hospital. She found the hospital, but her boy was 

dead. The surgeon in charge made a memorandum of the facts 

on the back otlhe President's order, and almost broken hearted, 

the poor widow found her way again into his presence. He was 

much affected by her appearance and story, and said, "I know what 

you wish me to do now, and I shall do it without your asking. I 

shall release you, your second son." Upon this he took up his 

pen, and commenced writing the order. While he was writing 

the poor woman stood by his side, the tears running down her face, 

and passed lier hand softly over his head, as a fond mother would 

to a son. By the time he had finished writing his own he^rt and 



THE SPOILER SPOILED. T 

eyes were tu:l. lie bauded her ilie paper, "Now," said he, ''You 
have one, and I one of the ivvo left, that is uo more than right/' 
She took the paper, and reverently placing: her hand again upon 
his head, the tears still upon her cheeks, Sdid, 'The Lord keep and 
bless you Mr. President, may you live long to be the head ot this 
great nation/ " 

JNlr. Lincoln lived to see the rebellion crushed, to enter its de- 
serted capital, to receive the surrender of its grenlest arniy, and to 
give the nation official intelligence of the great triumph. Then 
weary, but rejoicing be returned to his home, and talked of lenity 
to the baffled and conquered traitors. To relax his overworked 
mind he went to a place of amuaement. There the hired assassin 
of rebellion awaited bis coming. All the accomplices were procur- 
ed, and the arrangements perfected through the infixience of rebel 
gold. The assassin was well chosen. He knew the place, and 
under the influence of brandy, possessed, alas, too steady a band. 
The ball went straight to the mark, and the good President passed 
in a moment from all sensibility to life. 

It was the last masked battery of secession and rebellion, the 
final necessary .blow to arouse the people to a clear sense of the 
crime of treason ! Henry A. Wise said if Northern sympathy 
could be given up for execution, he would willingly let John 
Brown go. Alas ! for him and his co-traitors. Northern sympathy 
perished by the same ball that killed the President. His wish \a 
granted, and justice must finish the work. 

President Lincoln's task was accomplished. God had no more 
need of his agency. His was the work of a cotiqueror and libera- 
tor. Through all the terrible years of his administration, his 
guiding star was merey. It is wonderful how a man so tender, 
yhould at the same be so firm. God prepared him for his work, 
and took him away when it was done. 

His own favorite hymn has its most illustrious example in 
himself: 

" Oh! why should the spirit of mortal be proud? 

Like a swift fleeting meteor, a fast flying cloud, 

A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave, 

He passeth from life to his rest in the grave. 

" The leaves of the oak and the willow shall fade, 
Be scattered around, and together be laid; 
And the young and the old, and the low and the high 
Shall molder to dust, and together shall lie. 

" 'Tis the wink of au eye, 'tis ihe draught of a breath 
From the blossom of health to the paleness of death, 
P'rom the gilded saloon to the bier and the shroud, 
Oh! why should the spirit of mortal be proud?'' 



r THE SPOILER SPOILED. 

And now auotbcr hand is raised up to bear tLa sword of veLge- 
accc. Already it is addressing itself to the work. The spoiler 
has ceased to spoil, and is about to be spoiled. The treacherous 
dealer has made an end to deal treacherously, and the results of 
his treason fall upon his own pate. 

While we contemplate the results of crime, let us not forget 
that, as a nation blinded and hardened in sin, we were saved from 
siiiiilar results only throuh the interposition of a long-suffering and 
merciful God. The gulf that yawns for traitors now, only a little 
^hile ago appeared as though it would swallow up the nation. 
God allowed us to look into its open jaws, to have a near view of 
its horrors, then drew us back again to a place of safety. It is 
the first fair view that the American people have ever had of ruin. 
One danger is past, but others are before us, and God has allowed 
them all to be clustered together in this great tragedy, that we 
may study them and be wise. ^' For when thy judgments are in 
the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness." 

1st. Booth, the assassin, was a member of a secret, oath-bound 
organization, every member of which is a sworn and secret enemy 
of his country. He was chosen by his associates, because of his 
peculiar fitness, for this particular crime. Under the cloak of 
secrecy his purpose was so well hidden that no definite suspicion 
was excited, and no effective measures taken to prevent the perpe- 
tration of the crime. 

Society oan never be safe while secret, oath-bound organizations 
are tolerated. Every citizen who does not choose to become a 
member is in their power. He may be injured in property, repu- 
tation or lite, without knowing whence the injury came. Of 
course these organizations are more dangerous when society in 
general is demoralized, but they are never safe. Oaths of secrecy 
and recognition by signs and grips, especially in a country where 
freedom of speech is guaranteed, is prima facie evidence of 
guilty designs. Every oath-bound secret organization is a conspi- 
racy. The Free Mason swears to assist and defend his brother 
Mason under all cicumstances, whether innocent or guilty, and 
then he joins in a conspiracy against the laws of the state. He 
swears to defend his brother Mason, innocent or guilty, whoever 
else may suffer, and thus conspires against society at large. 
Should a member reveal any of their secrets, the whole Order 
conspires to take his life. Thus, instead of being a benevolent 
society, ministering to the wants of humanity, it is a wholesale 
conspiracy against the rights and interests of mankind. 

The Know Nothings conspired against tho rights of all natural- 
ized citizens, and all who wished to become such. The deeds of 
darkness committed in Kansas, by the hordes sent out from the 
Blue Lodges of Missouri, were only additional iUustratioDfl of the 
spirit that seeks shelter in secrecy. 



THE SPOILER SPOILED. ? 

But we can never fully appreciate the sinfulness of a scorct 
conspiracy until we are conspired against. As long as the victin:j>. 
are Irishmen, Dutchmen, and Negroes, no matter 1 But when tho 
dagger is ready to enter our own hearts, we get new light upon the; 
subject. Should not the loyal people of the United States awake 
to the criminality of secret plots and conspiracies, upon this day, 
when the whole nation mourns the loss of its greatest President, a 
victim of secret, oath-bouud conspiracy? 

Not ono of the brothers of the assassin Booth could appear in 
society, until he had vindicated bis loyalty. Why not have every 
brother, of every secret, oath-bound organization, show why hu 
has taken such an oath, and what his purposes are, at least once a 
year? Instead of this, large bodies of men — many of them, no 
doubt, loyal to their country — bound together by oaths that other 
men would scarcely dare to utter, recognizing each other by grips 
and signs and pass words, marched in the diiferent funeral proces- 
sions, as the remains of the President were borne through the 
country to their last resting place. Did a blush of sharae mantle 
the cheeks of any of them, when they remembered that Booth 
was a faithful brother, and according to the code of laws that 
governs all such bodies, he only did his duty in carrying out the 
will of a miijority of the fraternity? 

No doubt Booth's faltering heart — if indeed it ever falterd — 
was encouraged by the reflection that his frightful crime was 
shared by every member of the body, that while he took much of 
the risk, the responsibility would rest equally upon all. No single 
man could bear alone the harden that must have* rested upon him 
for months before he committed the fearful act. He cast it over 
on to his brethren by times, and thus relieved himself. 

When Masons and Odd-fellows condemn the Knights of the 
Golden Circle, they forget that the Inquisition, Jesuitism, Ma- 
sonry, Odd-fellows, and Knights of the Circle, all belong to the 
same great family of conspirators against human rights,and all,in the 
main must exercise a kind, brotherly feeling toward each other. 
This, then, is one of the dangers against which, in this terrible 
tragedy, God warns us. He sets it m bold relief before the face 
of ths nation, and plainly says, "Children beware ! One danger is 
past, but here is another. I have delivered you once, tempt mo 
not again to destroy you." If we will not listen to his voice, at 
some future day his judgments will meet us again, and again iu 
anguish we shall bemoan our folly. '^ When his judgments are m 
the earth, let the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. 

2d. Booth resorted to brandy before committing the terrible 
deed. Of course he did; every criminal does. During the day 
of the tragedy he appealed agitated and pale. About to write a 
note, he asked the clerk of the hotel, "What year is this?'' 
saying that he had forgotten. Ele needed something to steady 
his nerves; neither the golden bribe, the expectations of hvc 



10 TUE SPOILER SPOILED. 

accomplices, nor bis solemn oath was sufficient. What a miserable 
wretch he must have been ail that day. He was actively engajred 
in keeping his awful secret. That was enough for one soul. Yet 
he must perfect his plans, and attend to all the little details to 
insure their success and his own escape. He must meet and quiet 
all the misgivings of his own heart, shake off the terrible fear 
that, in spite of him, would steal into his soul, and try to appear 
calm, however fiercely the storm rages within. His sensibility is 
too keen. If the time arrives while he is in that condition he 
will fail. Just before the fatal moment he entered a drinking 
saloon and called for brandy, and very soon he is *^ master of the 
situation." His sensibility is blunted, and the demon in his heart 
aroused. Both were essential to success, and brandy effected both. 
His nerves are steadied, he can take sure aim ] the crime does not 
seem half so great, all danger is vanished. He feels like a hero; 
he will rid the earth of a tyrant, and thus immortalize his name — 
and so our good President died. 

Brandy is one of Satan's master pieces. It never fails, when 
used, to advance his cause. The Southern Confederacy has been 
supported and made strong by brandy, ever since the day of itsin-^ 
ception. Under its influence Southern representatives talked trea- 
son in Congress. Under its influence states seceded, armies were 
marshaled, marched to the battle field, and fought like demons. 
Guerrillas scoured the country robbing and murdering, alike, 
friends and foes. 

The Union cause suffered the loss of a number of battles during 
the war, because officers were drunk, and now that the war is al- 
most over, what havoc we see all through our country from the 
use of intoxicating drinks. Satan is wielding this weapon unop- 
posed. While his sceptre as an oppressor is broken, he is fortify- 
ing himself and preparing to gather into his kingdom a rich harvest 
of drunkards. 

Drinking saloons are established on every hand to entice our 
sons to ruin. All agitation has ceased, and the young go unwar- 
ned into these haunts of death. Not one of them comes away pure 
as he entered, while many will return again ana again, until woe 
and sorrow, and contentions and babbling, and wounds without 
cause, and redness of eyes, will be their heritage in life, and after 
death it "biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder." We 
have also this warning in the tragical death of the President. If 
you would be a happy and peaceful nation, tear down your distil- 
leries, shut up your dram shops, and banish all intoxicating drinks. 
Let not a generation of drunkards succeed a generation of heroes. 
Oppression is no more fatal to the prosperity and peace, than ins 
temperance. Are the people not prepared for this? Well, are 
they prepared for all the results of the opposite course ? We un- 
derstand now, practically, God's method of dealing with national 
sin. He gives abundant light; numerous and startling warnings, 



THE SPOILER SPOILED, 11 

offers to the people for a time the opportunity and honor of volun- 
tarily putting it away, and when they finally decline the work, and 
are becoming wedded to their sin, he suddenly draws the sword of 
vengeance, and cuts it up by the roots. It is a terrible ordeal as 
we have reason to know, and many a nation has died under the 
operation. Let us not tempt God in this matter, lest he tear ia 
pieces, and there be none to deliver. 

3d. Booth was an actor of tragedy. His life-long training fitted 
him ior becoming a graceful and successful murderer. Great crim- 
inals were his models ; he had studied their lives, their guilty 
schemes, their attitude in the commission of crime, until in the 
mimicry of the stage, he had become accomplished. To him crime 
had lost much of its repulsiveness. He had only contemplated it 
Irom the side of romance. His familiarity with all these things, 
and his perverted feelings made his task comparatively easy. Thus 
brandy, secrecy, and the stage conspired with the spirit of despot- 
ism to kill the President. In his person and office they recognized 
a friend of libercy and order, and to each of them, a common foe. 
Have they not all exposed themselves to condemnation and to de- 
struction ? Are they not allies of the destroyer, themselves to be 
destroyed ? ?hall we finish them now or wait till each in its turn 
has grown strong and attempted the life of the nation ? These are 
the sins that christians must meet and grapple with, in the imme- 
diate future. They present a bold proud front, even now, although 
fresh stains of blood are on their hands, and the mark of the mur- 
derer on their forehead. 

With devlish foresight and cunning, they have taken shelter just 
as slavery did, under the wing of the church, and large denomina- 
tional influence is already pledged to their support. This is espe> 
cially true of secret oath-bound organizations. Whoever attacks 
them attacks the great body of professing christians in the country. 
Surely their true character should now be understood, and all 
countenance of the professed people of God be withdrawn from 
them, 

Wc may take courage, now that we have reached the end of the 
great and long continued struggle for human rights. A bad cause 
can never be supported by bad arguments. It ever the Devil ex- 
hausted his armory in defence of any cause, he did it in the defence 
of American Slavery. Statesmen developed all their ingenuity in 
producing plausible arguments in its behalf. For years, no man 
was recognized as a statesman until he had invented some inge- 
nious lie in the interest of oppression. John C. Calhoun, to meet 
that glorious sentiment of the Declaration of Independence, ''All 
men are created equal," once declared that <'men are not created, 
infants are created, men grow'' A saying worthy of the great 
master of Jeff Davis. 

Senator Petitt, of Indiana, pronounced the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence a ''self-evident lie." "All men," said he, ''are not created 



12 THE BP OILER SPOILED. 

(N|ual; some are taller than others, some are stronger than others, 
uud some are more talented than others." 

Daniel Webster, in the defense of the Fugitive Slave Act, said, 
"that the Higher Law is beyond the reach of man, higher than 
the Blue Hidge, higher than the x\llegheny mountains, too high 
for. man to obey it." Even Senator Trumbull once declared th'at 
he did not call slave-holding a crime, where it is legalized by 
State enactment, 

T have heard of a county politician who, in a harangue to his 
neighbors daring a political campaign, declared that Henry Clay 
did not own a single slave; "to be sure," he added, ^^he has a few 
domestics/- Of course his unschooled auditors did not know that 
in Southern phraseology, a domestic is a slave. That politician 
deserved promotion that he never received for his ingenious lie. 

Ministers joined in the dishonorable and unholy work, and the 
i^ible was searched over and over again, lor passages and arguments 
in defence of slavery. "Cursed be Canaan," was hobbyized, and 
ridden almost to death. "The heathen round about" were made to 
iarnish. IsTSLci shvea m 2:>erpetuum. Genesis was searched to see 
if God had not made the white man and the black man at two dif> 
ferent creations, and of different kinds of clay. God was said to 
have organized his church in the family ot Abraham, while that 
patriarch was the owner of hundreds of slaves. Onesimus ran 
away from his master and owner Philemon, Paul captured him and 
sent him back. 

These were the arguments of statesmen and divines, repeated 
and reiterated by men of smaller calibre. Their calling has slip- 
ped away from them. Their disciples through fear of being left 
on the unpopulnr side, have almost all deserted them, they are fal- 
ling into neglect. Occasionlly a few of their more steadfast 
friends meet together in some corner to talk over the good times 
past, and administer to each other the few consolations of their 
expiring system of religion. Soon these relics will depart, and 
their place of burial will be among the ruins of intolerant bigotry. 
The world wiil be relieved when they are gone. Their history 'is 
^A'lthin the book of God's remembrance, who doeth all thinjrs well. 

There was another class of men, and another class of arguments. 
The "roughs," who cared for neither gospel nor politics, but who 
n:ost cordially hated the negro. They used abusive epithets, and 
•when these failed, they resorted to the bludgeon, tar and feathers, 
suspicious eggs, and sharp-edged rails. In later days they have 
tried torpedoes, poison, yellow fever and assassination. All these 
arguments have been thoroughly tried and have most ignomini- 
ousiy failed. Satan is at his wits-end. There is nothing left for 
his poor Confederacy, with its peculiar institution, but unwept and 
inglorious death, and the burial of an ass. 

If Satan, with the allies he possessed, could not sustain the sys- 
'•'^ui of American Slavery, what bad cause can he sustain when the 



THE SPOILER SPOILED. 13 

artillery of God's truth is fairly turned upon it? lathis over- 
whelming defeat his prestige is lost, truth and righteonsness are 
triumphant, and may confidently equip themselves fbr another bat- 
tle. We have also this new illustration of the truth, that the "way 
of the transgressor is hard/' Brooks, Koitt, Butler, Tyler and 
Floyd have gone to answer for their crimes at a higher tribunal 
than any on earth. Mason and Slidell are in exile, never more tj 
return to their native country. Davis, Stephens, Reagan and C'lay 
are clode prisoners at Fortress Monroe, awaiting their trial and 
doom. Sanders, Thompson, Tucker and Cleary are fugitives and 
vagabonds, the marks of the murderer upon their brow, and a 
price upon their heads. The accomplices of Booth are on trial for 
their lives. From the time that he shot the President he had not 
a moment's peace or comfort. He went from the stage with a bro- 
ken leg, and physical as well as mental agony attended him to the 
hour of his death. 

Poverty, desolation and sorrow reign throughout the South. The 
highborn ladies, who lived to luxuriate on the products of the un- 
paid toil of others, now in common with the pbbeians and mudsills 
whom they despised, are destined to eat bread in the sweat of their 
face, until they return to the ground from which they were taken. 
Governors of Stales, Legislators and proud military officers, are by 
scores and hundreds, homeless and friendless beggars. The poor- 
est slave in all the States, has a better prospect for himself and his 
posterity, than the man who a few months ago, claimed him as his 
chattel. There is not a happy rebel in the land, and not one that 
will ever be happy and contented again on earth. 

If ever the windows of heaven were opened to pour a storm of 
wrath upon Confederate wickedness, it has been so in the closing- 
days of the rebellion. It is not the province of the reformer to 
fight dead sins. The main work in this great reformation is fin- 
ished. The questions yet at issue will reach a just solution by the 
impetus they have already received. The books and speeches and 
sermons that this great contest has produced, may be given to his- 
tory, or laid aside — as the warrior lays his sword aside — mementoes 
of the past. The angel who bears the key of the bottomless pit, 
may gather the broken fetters ttiat have fallen from the limbs ot 
four millions of American slaves, and from them forge the wond- 
rous chain with which the dragon, that old serpent, which is the 
devil, and fatan, shall be bound for a thousand years; cast into the 
bottomless pit, and shut up, and a seal set upon him, he shall de- 
ceive the nations no more, till the thousand years are fulfilled. 

Blessed period ot good will and peace on earth. Nations shall 
beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning- 
hooks, and shall learn war no more. Let us wait with patience 
this glorious day of promise, and in the meantime, let us meet with 
renewed energy and confidence the foes that are yet to be overcome 



13 



